A. the analogia entis: The analogy of being, or the idea that God and man are related through a common thing such as a being

Transcription

1 Karl Barth s Analogia Reformed Forum Conference October 2018 I. Introduction A. the analogia entis: The analogy of being, or the idea that God and man are related through a common thing such as a being B. tertium comparationis: a common thing in which two or more other things share. II. Barth s Turn to Analogy A. Wholly Other: The idea that God is utterly separate form our time and space. B. Thesis: Barth s solution to the problem of God and man s radical separation is analogical and ontological, no less than in Rome The Analogia Fidei a. analogia fidei: or the analogy of faith. The idea that by grace there is a correspondence between revelation and our knowledge. b. Geschichte Transcendent place of the Christ event. AKA: Primal History or Supratemporal sphere/act. c. Historie Our Calendar Time d. Dialectical Theology: To say yes and no at the same time in the same respect. e. Karl Barth s dialectical two step. The modern dialectical two-step holds together that which appears to be irreconcilable. 2. The Analogia Relationis a. I-Thou relationships of the persons of the Trinity are the original relation to which all other relations are but copies. 3. The Analogia Operationis a. Man s actions being an analogue of God s actions. 1 On this, see T.F. Torrance s understanding of reconciliation and his approach to theontology.

2 4. Revelation and Reconciliation a. No difference between God s act of revelation and his act of reconciliation. b. His act of revelation in Jesus Christ just is his act of reconciliation. c. Concise Summary: the supra-temporal event in which God reveals himself to man is the same time-event in which man is reconciled to God. And that event is the person of Jesus Christ. III. Barth s Analogia Temporis 1. Introduction a. Keith Johnson. Karl Barth and the Analogia Entis; article in Thomas Aquinas and Karl Barth. b. Johnson: While Barth can say humans have an intrinsic capacity for God, he also can hold that this capacity is established outside of their own being (extra nos) because it resides in Jesus Christ Himself. A relationship of ongoing continuity between God and humanity exists (p. 146) c. This point of contact in Christ means that an intrinsic analogy of being exists between God and humans grounded in God s eternal electing decision (146-7). 2. Postmetaphysical Commitments and Actualistic Ontology a. Actualism: An approach to ontology that swaps out the idea of being for the idea of act. 3. God Has Time for Us, and Barth s New Analogy a. Time and Act b. Three Uses of Time:

3 Our Time God s Time God s Time for Us IV. The Deeper Modern Conception 1. The Image of God as a Case in Point 2. The Only Image Bearer a. For Karl Barth Jesus Christ alone is the true creature. Therefore, man can only acknowledge the Word of God. Barth denies that fallen man can have the image of God. b. The image is found in the I-thou relationship which exists between man and woman. c. In other words, Jesus Christ is himself both the divine original and the human image of God. Hunsinger:...there is no such thing as a godless human being, because no human being exists apart from this basic God relationship. By the same token, there is no such thing, so to speak, as a God without humanity or a humanless God. As revealed in Jesus Christ, God does not will to be God without us. The real God exists in relationship to humanity, and the real human being exists in relationship to God. 3. Van Til and the Idea of Correlativity a. Correlativity is the idea that there is a reciprocal relationship between two or more objects.

4 V. Concluding Remarks and a Better Way Vos says, the Protestant, and more specifically the Reformed, doctrine of the image of God is different than the Roman Catholic doctrine According to our conception, our entire nature should not be free from God at any point; the nature of man must be worship from beginning to end. According to the deeper Protestant conception, the image does not exist only in correspondence with God but in being disposed toward God.

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